The Opposition is asking the Data Protection Commissioner to investigate the Police Commissioner’s actions after he claimed to be in possession of phone logs connected with the case of a wrongly accused man.
The request was made yesterday by home affairs spokesman Jason Azzopardi, who accused the Police Commissioner of abuse of power since he should not have had access to private phone logs.
During the press conference, which was also addressed by Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami, the PN spokesmen levelled harsh criticism at the Police Commissioner, the Government and the Police Board.
“After seeing these happenings my trust in the Police Commissioner starts to be eroded,” Dr Fenech Adami said, when asked whether he still trusted Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit.
The spokesmen insisted the police could only ask phone companies for records if they were investigating “a serious crime”.
Dr Azzopardi said that at law, serious crime was defined as carrying a potential penalty of one year imprisonment or more.
The alleged crime the Police Commissioner was investigating involved a meeting between Home Affairs Ministry chief of staff Silvio Scerri and a man wrongly accused of a hold-up, he said.
On television last week Mr Zammit said phone logs in his possession showed it was the family of the wrongly accused man, Darryl Luke Borg, that contacted the ministry first and not the other way round.
After seeing these happenings my trust in the Police Commissioner starts to be eroded
The controversy first erupted when Dr Azzopardi claimed that Mr Scerri had used a convicted criminal to fix an appointment with Mr Borg. Mr Scerri denied the claim, saying it was the family that requested the meeting.
But Dr Fenech Adami yesterday would hear nothing of the controversy over who called who, insisting the meeting should have never happened irrespective of who arranged it because the Police Board was investigating Mr Borg’s wrongful arraignment.
He accused the Government of hypocrisy for breaching civil rights when it was elected on a platform that championed civil rights.
“If it results that the Police Commissioner abused his power he should shoulder responsibility and resign,” Dr Fenech Adami insisted.
When asked whether they had information as to whether the police had made a formal request to mobile service providers for call log data and if this was actually forwarded, the spokesmen insisted they could not speculate. It was up to the Police Commissioner to publish the information he had, they insisted.
Asked whether they trusted the Police Board investigation into the wrongful arraignment, Dr Fenech Adami drew a distinction between the head of the Police Board, former judge Franco Depasquale, and its other members.
“I have full trust in Mr Justice Depasquale but the Police Board is close to resembling a Labour Party club,” Dr Fenech Adami said of the other members that were appointed recently.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com